Celebrities always have interesting stories to share about their lives before fame knocked on their door.

Just like any other person, most celebrities have had a tough life before getting into the limelight and they are not afraid to reveal their past to their fans.

It is safe to say anyone can relate to some of the stories shared and it is inspiring to know that your favourite celeb lived a normal life like you and me before the breakthrough.

For Gilbert Baraza alias Mtumishi it is not any different, in fact, it is worth noting that the comedian was not raised with a silver spoon but through thick and thin made his way up to fame.

In an interview on Coffee by Mbuvi hosted by Mbuvi, the comedian narrated how challenges in life pushed him to a life of crime, where he would spend as much as 2 million on one week before he decided to turn his life around.

Mchungaji who hails from Kawangware faced one of the toughest challenges in his life after his father lost his job, forcing his mother to depart from Kawangware back to their rural home.

At this point, the comedian was still in high school and the future of him continuing with studies had been halted.

Mchungaji was left to care for his 3 other siblings at a very tender age and had no alternative but to learn the survival tactics of the city by embracing the streets as home.

The comedian was determined to finish his O-Level studies in spite of the hurdles of life and luck seems to have knocked on his door when he discovered a charity based school.

The school depended on well-wishers to run and it was common for them to lack teachers as they only worked on offering their services when they were free.

His life took a different turn when he interacted with one of his classmates in the school. For Mchungaji, he described the young man as expensively and smartly dressed that attracted attention.

Many questions lingered on his head of how such a boy would study in such a low levelled school-based along Nairobi River when judging from his appearances and gadgets he clearly deserved to be rolling with the well off.

Months later he decided to approach him and ask him such questions. With time the two got close to the point that he, later on, decided to reveal his source of livelihood.

Mchungaji with the hardships in his life was eager to make money, at least to cater to his needs. His friend decided to take him to a house where he undertakes his operations.

The comedian described to Mbuvi the state of the house as filthy or rather in a poor condition from the outside but like a palace from the inside, a sight which he found amusing.

There he was forced to be part of the criminal gang as his life was threatened should he turn his back on them since he had seen their hideout and guns that they were to use only for self-defence in their line of duty.

At this point, Mtumishi had no option but be part of the gang in which his classmate was the ring leader.

It was at this point that the comedian realized what he had gotten himself into but left with no option but to follow as instructed.

On the same day, he was put to a test to go steal a car with the others and the job was successful as they stole a car, tied the owner to a tree, sold the car and received their share of the day.

It became a tendency for the gang to steal cars and get an appetizing amount of money which they splashed on leisure activities for three months straight up before embarking on their hustle.

Mchungaji revealed that the highest amount he and his gang had was amounting to 2 million shillings which were to be shared by him and two other of his friends in the gang. An amount which he says was all used by the end of the week.

Mchungaji explains that he and his gang lived an extravagant life where they would spend up to 30,000 on lodging only and hire expensive cars for transportation.

He was given a second chance in life after one big blunder in the course of their normal operations. On this particular day, Mchungaji and his team went about their normal business of hijacking cars, not noticing that the car they were to hijack belonged to the flying squad.

If this wasn’t the work of the devil then it was a call for the gang to mend their ways. Mchungaji and his gang were caught and later on taken to an isolated area where they were thoroughly beaten with electric wires.

Mchungaji describes the scenario as a chance from God as he never thought he would come out alive. The fact that the flying squad chose to forgive the gang was enough for Mchungaji to ditch his criminal life and start all over again.

From there, he worked his way up from working as a barber in a Kinyozi to shaving the dead to finally acting and met Mchungaji and decided to team up and joined comedy through auditioning on Churchill Show despite fierce objection from his mother who preferred the funny man to work as a shamba boy through an already made connection, he decided to go for it and Kenyans loved his unique talent which led to his big break on TV.